


Elysian Grey

by ItWillComeBack



Category: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod - Zac Brewer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 10:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24968251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItWillComeBack/pseuds/ItWillComeBack
Summary: Whoops, I accidentally wrote a vampire creation tale for the first chapter 🤙 you can pry weird mysticism from my cold dead hands
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	1. Velo et Vulpes

**Author's Note:**

> A ghost wrapped in a veil, and a vision wrapped in a dream 👍 I've been writing this whole thing since like 2018? And I finally post and it's this tiny tip of the iceberg. Don't worry I'm just taking a ton of time editing and making sure everything is cohesive and not tripping over itself. Thanks for being patient.  
> Word count: 944

Vlad was curled up in a nest of furs and wool, the smell of blood and spring flowers danced around him. A fireplace warmed the room and he was thankful for it as he heard a snowstorm roar outside, the insistent yet soft tapping of snowfall was almost like a warning. This place was safety incarnate, but Vlad had a feeling that the whole thing was artificial. Not his usual type of dream, that was for sure, and where was the smell of blood coming from? The halfling sat up, the room seemed empty. It was uncommon for him to realize he was dreaming without waking up immediately.

A fluttering touch, along his shoulder blade, then to his chin. Twisting around he found the touch belonged to a man, possibly a ghost? Cold pulsed around him like a ghost, but his touch was warm and fleeting. Vlad couldn't make out the stranger's face, a dark veil hung from his crown, covering him. He shivered, the quiet was ethereal, he thought that any sound would be too loud, the back and forth of the heat in the room and the chill from the stranger were irking him. The man's warm fingers tapped his chin, keeping his attention. The stranger placed his hand over Vlad's eyes, and there was a vision of sorts.

A woman was crying, holding her baby in her arms. She walked to a field and placed her baby on the ground, roughly rubbing at her eyes and breathing through sobs. Vlad could see the baby's left hand was malformed, three of his fingers stuck together. The woman walked away for a while, returning with long thorny branches, placing them in a teepee-like form around her baby. Fear crawled down Vlad's throat and into his gut as he realized what she was doing, watching as she encircled the baby with kindling. He shook his head but he couldn't turn away. She cried as she lit a small bundle of grass, blowing on it with ragged breathes to encourage the flame.

This was not a nightmare that he could wake up from, which wasn't uncommon for Vlad, but usually it was the same reel of the house burning, or of Nelly being killed. He could hear the child wailing and smell the smoke, he could feel the heat of the fire and ashes sticking to his skin, it was a lot like the house fire, if only he could wake himself up. At the very least, he didn't have to feel responsible for this fire the way he did over the house fire.

A very dark part of him stirred as he watched the mother run like the devil was on her heels, then there was nothing. The fire eventually burned itself out and the sun set, everything went dark except for the embers. The stars seemed to cry at the death of the baby, the full moon painting the world a cold silver. Something moved in the shadows, Vlad wondered if the woman had returned. A black fox made its way over on silent feet, sniffing at the embers.

 _Why are you dead?_ The fox questioned, walking around what was left of the fire.

 _Was the sacrifice truly hers?_ It let out a long note, screaming, crying out to the universe.

 _Wasn't it you who gave up far more?_ The night itself seemed to hold its breath.

The embers were going cold, their last little veins of orange fading. A price had been paid, but who was the universe indebted to now? As quick as lightning a decision was made, and the child rose from the dead fire, all pale with ash and moonlight, looking a bit older, unburnt. The fox laughed into the darkness, triumphant, and walked off into the trees.

The child toddled from the embers, licking ash off his lips and made his way to a tree that smelled sweet, dark branches clad in little white blossoms. The branches seemed to reach towards him, he reached out in return, gripping a branch with an ashen left hand which was no longer malformed, and the branches stopped, and needle long thorns cropped up all over the plant. He smiled and wandered through the night. Hunger was demanding he find something to eat, but he had little luck as the night wore on.

When the sun came around he was ready to pull out his teeth to shut the hunger up. A conspiracy of ravens unwittingly led him to a carcass on a rock, which they begrudgingly shared with him. He grew as most children do, but soon the animals were not enough to sate the hunger, and he replaced them with the lifeblood of men, he couldn't join the world of men ever again, only ever seeing them when he killed them. The creatures of the woods didn't avoid him, he was thankful to run around with them, never really alone.

Vlad was confused, the fear had dissipated in a way his nightmares never did. Why make his heartrate skyrocket just to resurrect the kid? Why show him this? He turned to the veiled man with the question on his tongue the moment his hand pulled away from his eyes.

"That's where I began." His voice was low, as if he was talking through a wall, only furthering the halfling's theory that he was a ghost, "That's where we both began."

What was Vlad supposed to say to that? "Who are you?"

"I am an old friend, repaying an old debt."

"What? What does that mean? What debt?"

"All in time. Rest now." And a starry, dreamless sleep pulled him under.


	2. Rectification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vlad undoes multiple stupid actions done by Tomas. All the things that he can undo, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who completely forgot about how Dorian was burned after being killed? Also, fun headcanon that Tomas didn't have enough time to burn D'Ablo's entire body since he was killed in Stokerton, and instead opted to simply burn his whole chest and call it a day.

Vlad's boots were shlopping through the rain-soaked ground, his uncle not far behind him. The rain had let up for the evening but dark clouds still stirred overhead, trapping the summer humidity in town. Trudging through the soggy woods so late at night was probably not what Otis was expecting when Vlad told him there was something he needed help with.

"So? Where are we going exactly? Do you know?"

Vlad looked around, nothing but trees and shrubbery surrounding them, and nodded, "Yeah. It's kinda hard to explain though, so just have some faith in me."

 _Always_ hung in the air, it didn't need to be said at this point.

An old, beaten wooden shack with washed-out red paint and ivy overtaking one half was leaning against two trees and hiding behind several out of control bushes.

"Di-- Vladimir, did you kill someone?" Otis reassessed him, "Are those your body hiding boots? They're supposed to be at least two sizes up."

Vlad rolled his eyes, there was not a hint of accusation in his uncle's tone, of course, he'd only be interested in helping hide a body properly. Mostly Otis sounded surprised, logically if Vlad had killed someone he wouldn't look so exhausted right now, and he wouldn't have waited long to say something about it.

Vlad clicked his tongue and shook his head, "No, but Tomas did." He pushed the shed's door open, driving the bottom deep enough into the dirt to hold it in place and motioning his uncle to stay where he was before ducking inside, coughing.

Otis remained silent and waited for his nephew to return, he had insinuated that Tomas dumped bodies here, but there was no way Vlad would go inside if he had.

"A hand?" Vlad called, grabbing his uncle's attention as he was halfway out the door, pulling some body with him.

Otis flinched and moved to help pull the body out of the shed. He almost let go when he realized he knew who this body was, rust-colored locks, a perfect face and dilated brown eyes. Dorian Ciotti.

"He never... he never burned th...? Is Enrico in there too?" Vampires didn't break down quickly like humans, it was expected that they be burned.

"Yup, and so is what's left of Adrian, I guess he couldn't leave his casket anything but empty in case anybody ever bothered to check it. D'Ablo is in there too."

"How did you even find them?"

"You know I love to wander around in the woods, I just kept getting such a bad feeling around this fucking shack. I figured the worst thing I'd find in here was a human body." He shuddered. "Was not expecting to find the Ciottis. Or D'Ablo."

"Y-you wanted help giving them pyres?" A bit hard to do in this wet weather, but still they could get it done.

"Not quite." Vlad swallowed and looked out at what little of the cloudy night sky could be seen through the trees. "Otis, when this is over I'm gonna be a mess. Henry took two Nyquil pills and Joss is keeping an eye on him until I text him that I'm fine. When I'm finished here, you've gotta take them," He pointed to the bodies, "and get back to the house. If you get a call from a random number, answer it, it'll be Joss calling for help with Henry if he wakes up. I'll text you when I'm feeling better and on my way back."

"That's a lot of information but also leaves out why exactly any of it will happen."

"I'm-- I'm going to fix them." Vlad reached out with his right hand to a vine gripping a tree, where his fingers touched the leaves turned brown, then grey, then the vine cracked beneath his fingers and fell away from the tree. He reached down and with his left hand touched some moss which promptly grew a foot in every direction along the ground like a living carpet.

Otis considered this for a long moment. "You can revive them? But why wouldn't you come back with us then?"

"I'd be severely low on lifeblood at that point, if you took me into town I'd take any life I could get whether I wanted to or not. If I stay out here I can get that energy back from the plants. It'd likely only take me a few hours, I'd be back before morning. Henry has to stay away, he'd want to be with me because in his mind I'd be hurt, but if he came here... he would most definitely end up dead." Vlad wondered if his uncle would rather take him into town and trade a few people's lives just to have him home sooner.

"When did you... find out that you could do this?"

"Last week, in a dream. I've been testing it on different stuff for days... I already tried it on a human in the hospital, it doesn't work..."

"What?"

Vlad shrugged, clearly kicking himself, "I've been testing it out. It doesn't work on humans, it doesn't work on animals that've been dead a while. But I think that's because their brains break down, whereas vampires don't really..."

Otis took a breath and looked Dorian's body over, "Any other concerns I should know about?"

"They can't touch each other for a few minutes after they've been revived. They'd fall apart all over again and would waste a lot of my energy in doing so. When they come back you need to keep them away from one and other just for five or so minutes tops. I brought some stuff that might help with that."

Otis imagined that would be a bit difficult considering the first thing any of the Ciottis would want to do is make sure the others are alright.

"What's in the bag then?"

The halfling shrugged off his book bag and pulled out some rope.

"This was a bitch to make, it has a very very very small amount of garlic that's been wrapped in plastic in its core, so rope burn won't be lethal but it makes anything it touches numb for a while so do be quick tying them up." He pulled out a bag, "I also brought clothes, since Adrian and D'Ablo will be naked once I fix them."

Otis blinked, how hadn't any other vampire thought of garlic rope?

"I know you hate the stuff, but it's a necessary precaution so that I don't end up having to do this again. I'm half as sensitive to the stuff as you are." There it was, vampires couldn't tolerate garlic enough to make use of it, but Vlad could.

"Alright. Should we get started?"

Vlad nodded and placed his wrists together for a few seconds, when he pulled them apart, his mark and a mirror version of it on his other wrist were glowing hot violet, looking like that light could drip down his skin.

He placed his left hand to Dorian's neck and hissed, his right hand beginning to shake. Several cracking sounds let Vlad know the prophet's ribs were returning to their proper places, his skin covering up the hole where his heart was pulling back together, and then along with some hacking, Dorian started breathing again, brown eyes shining blue and meeting Vlad's purple ones. Vlad swiftly pulled his hand away and moved to let Otis pull Dorian to a nearby tree and tie him to it, by the time the Prophet realized what had happened it was too late for him to do anything about it.

"Vladimir? Otis? Am I dead?"

"No, we sorted that for you. Stay there until we're done." Otis advised, turning and going into the shack to retrieve Enrico. Vlad wished he'd tied the prophet facing away from them, he didn't need to see this.

Upon Otis exiting the shack Dorian immediately started kicking about, "Wh-what have you done? Why is-- why is-- wh--" He fell into a bout of sobs at the sight of his father, head very much removed from his body.

Vlad was busy handing off the death from Dorian to a pine tree, the tree standing dead when he was done with it, and still much death remained, clinging to his fingers on his right hand. He felt terrible about what had happened to the Ciotti family, he had in a way, caused all three of their deaths. They didn't deserve to be dead because of him, and he didn't want them dead. He wanted to say something that might calm Dorian, but he thought an apology was overdue for all three of them, and no words would calm Dorian at this point. He pushed the death at his hand into another tree, still not rid of it all, and then turned to fix Enrico.

Vlad swallowed a scream that very much wanted to escape him. Carrying that much death and still giving his life force away was torture, but he couldn't take all night trying to get rid of all the death before fixing anyone, it would take too long and he'd likely pass out before he was finished with all of them. When Enrico sat up, they were both panting and Vlad struggled to stand up without falling flat on his face, moving for the nearest living tree. Otis quickly tied his friend to a tree not too far from Dorian, who was gobsmacked at the sight of his father disoriented but alive.

"Why am I tied up? Untie me, Otis! Where are we? How did-- Dorian? Is... Have I lost my mind? My boy?" Enrico shivered and then looked ready to pull the tree clear out of the ground to reach his son.

Otis calmly told them both that after a few minutes they'd all be untied and they could go home, he also informed them that Tomas was dead.

Enrico was unbothered, smug even, "Who else did that bastard kill?"

"Adrian and D'Ablo. Vlad's got the whole thing under control."

Otis gave his nephew a minute to kill a few trees before reentering the shed.

"Otis? Grab D'Ablo." Vlad said, sucking the life out of a small patch of brambles.

"Uhh, are you s--"

"No way in hell does D'Ablo get resurrected before my son! Adrian died trying to save you and your mother! Leave D'Ablo in there to rot! I want my son!" Vlad was really hoping no one was close enough to hear Dorian's temper tantrum.

"This is why you're tied up and D'Ablo won't be. In any case, Adrian is ashes currently. It'll take all the strength I have left to bring him back. D'Ablo's chest cavity is ashes and his head's not attached, but the rest of him's fine, I'll have him fixed in two minutes. When I'm through fixing him, I'll happily put Adrian back together."

Otis set a box on the ground, containing D'Ablo's ashes and head, his once long golden hair was sloppily cut at the same length his neck was, and pulled his body out next to it. Vlad sighed, he really didn't like this guy at all, but here he was doing the right thing and being the bigger person and bringing his enemy back from the dead. He wasn't a hundred percent sure why his dad and Vikas had killed D'Ablo, but he wasn't going to be held responsible for his death. If he used his dad's actions to rid himself of someone he loathed, especially when he had the power to fix it, he'd be just as bad as him.

With his fingertips pressed to D'Ablo's neck and his palm against his chest, he started forcing his lifeblood into him. Reforming his whole heart took a few minutes as Vlad expected, and he was about to pass out when D'Ablo finally came around. He groaned and clutched his right arm close, spots clouding his vision.

"Vladimir. I don't suppose you're the reason I'm alive?" As quick as ever.

The halfling coughed and nodded, trying to stand and get rid of some of the death climbing through his arm, he could barely feel his fingers. D'Ablo was the least of his concerns. He moved to stand, his legs shuffling beneath him like he was a newborn fawn, before he fell to his knees. His vision was wobbling enough to make him nauseous almost immediately.

"Hey, D'Ablo, put some clothes on, then make yourself useful and help Vlad over to the nearest decently sized living plant," Otis ordered, going back into the shed for the last time to procure Adrian's ashes.

D'Ablo huffed but got dressed and helped the boy to his feet nonetheless, avoiding Vlad's right side entirely. Vlad's vision was swimming, he could barely keep his feet under him, and the dizzy feeling was only getting worse with each step. He wondered if this is what being drunk is like.

"So your father's dead I take it? How'd that happen?"

Vlad pointed at himself and held his arm out like he would if he was holding the Lucis. He rubbed his face and fell into a tree, seemingly on purpose, with his right side, sliding to the ground and ripping the life from the tree along the way.

"And Vikas?"

Vlad coughed a bit and looked up at D'Ablo as if barely registering that he was real. He drew two fingers down the middle of his face and down his chest.

"He was cut in half?" D'Ablo blinked, what a way to go.

At the boy's nod, D'Ablo sighed, two incredibly powerful and well-prepared men who had been planning and watching for years couldn't take this kid's power from him.

"Who replaced me as President then?"

"...Would you like to be President?" Vlad's voice was scratchy as he ran his fingers over the grass and moss on the ground. D'Ablo almost flinched watching him kill the plants instantly.

"And continue the job I've had for ages? Yes. Why?"

"I want to have peace. I want Elysia to see that I have no interest in ruling the world. Just because I have power doesn't mean I would know how to lead people. I don't know how Elysia works, I don't know what they need. Otis has replaced you, he's also head of the Elder Council now. Em isn't on the Elder Council anymore, she's in hiding I guess. She doesn't bother us."

"You're saying if I want my job as President, I can't be on the Council of Elders?"

"Otis wants to be a professor again, plus he's the principal now, the Council of Elders barely ever convenes, but it pays well, so he could be a professor if he wasn't the Council President."

"He would do that?" D'Ablo could easily imagine his Council being less than happy at deferring to a man they'd once arrested.

"I'll talk to him about it. If you get your job back can you stop pursuing my power?"

"...If Tomas and Vikas couldn't manage it after all the shit they went through, it's meant to be yours." He wasn't going to say outright he was giving up, but clearly, the only thing that could come out of hunting the boy was death, he'd learned that the hard way.

"Yeah, almost like I was born to have it." Vlad said dryly, grabbing a bush, "Imagine that! This much power isn't meant to fit inside a vampire!"

"So you do claim your status now? Even if you don't want to lead, being Pravus implies a certain status Elysians won't ignore."

"Sure, whatever. I don't care about that. I just didn't want the mess Tomas made to go unfixed since I have the power to make things right, for the vampires he hurt at least. I want to return things to how they were before he showed up." For the most part, he certainly wasn't mad at unseating Em from her tyrannical position on the Council of Elders.

"Noble as ever, Master Pravus." That was as close to a thank you as D'Ablo could give.

Vlad ignored him and placed his hand on another tree, leaving it grey. What the hell else was he supposed to do with his powers, if not help people? He touched a few more plants before deciding it was enough to probably avoid passing out once he fixed Adrian.

When they returned Vlad held his bag in D'Ablo's direction, "I brought some blood bags. Glare at me all you want, you're not stable enough to hunt yet."

"Vladimir if you untie me, I can help. I have power too, I can--"

"Dorian you are scarcely stable, don't offer up stupid ideas. I can do it."

"Can I help?" Otis asked.

Vlad sighed, "Show me your teeth. When was the last time you fed on someone?"

"Not long ago." He was telling the truth, his fangs weren't that noticeable, meaning he had lifeblood to spare.

Vlad nodded, too tired to argue with himself about it, and sat across from his uncle, taking both their left hands and pressing them to the ashes. Vlad choked on the pain but didn't lift his hand, Otis groaned and gritted his teeth, but stayed in place as well. They stayed like that for at least ten minutes, it felt much longer. When Adrian bolted upright he's was sobbing and screaming like a child. Vlad was barely conscious, D'Ablo had to keep him from falling over into the dirt, and Otis had to pin Adrian down.

"Don't move, don't move, please... fuck that hurt," Otis grumbled, putting himself between Adrian's line of sight and Dorian.

Adrian was shaking, trying to get up but severely weakened.

"Dorian, use that power of yours and get him to calm down." Otis said, "D'Ablo get Vlad to another plant."

Both did as asked, Adrian settled down and Vlad continued weeding out the forest.

"Okay. Dorian, I can untie you and Enrico, but you both cannot touch Adrian for a few minutes. If you do he's gonna go back to a pile of ashes. You don't want that, Vlad's out of energy to put anyone else back together tonight. So if I untie you, _you can not touch him_." Otis was within arms reach of Adrian, he could easily overpower the other vampire if he needed to. Not that Adrian looked well enough to walk over to them, he was putting all of his focus into putting clothes on.

They shared a look, "We understand. How long does that take?"

"Like six minutes. I'll let you know when that time passes." Otis put in a timer on his phone and proceeded to untie the two.

"What were you doing here?" Dorian asked, arms wrapped around his father.

"Me? I came looking for you, stupid!"

"You're all idiots." Vlad called, "Dorian, you jumped in front of a stake for an invincible guy. Enrico if you had any idea how to keep your head down Tomas likely would've never bothered killing you. Adrian, I don't know what part of you thought you could single-handedly sneak into town and nab both my mom and me without Tomas noticing. You're all a bit stupid."

Enrico had half a retort formed but thought better of it, Vlad made some very valid points for someone who was stumbling into plants. D'Ablo was laughing at the lot of them. "You jumped in front of a stake _for_ _him_? Ha! That's Darwinism!"

Adrian snapped up abruptly, staring D'Ablo right in the face and said "E bello quanto parli visto che anche tu avevi bisogno di Vlad per resuscitare," which Vlad vaguely recognized as Italian, and then promptly fell back onto the ground. D'Ablo bit down on another laugh and nonchalantly pushed a half-awake Pravus into a bush.

Otis' phone let out a shrill noise and at his nod, the Ciotti family was finally reunited. After a solid minute of talking, they turned to Vlad, who was not trying to hear how much they owed him. They offered him anything he could possibly want and he was struggling to think of a way to say no.

"No, no, stop, nope. I'm not--" When they wouldn't hear him Vlad put his pointer fingers and thumbs together in a pinching motion and pulled his hands in opposite directions in a conductor's motion meaning stop. "I don't want anything from you. Tomas ruined your lives and your family, I'm just trying to help. None of you deserved to die." Just trying to help seemed to be the anthem of his life.

"Did-- Did you just?" Dorian repeated the motion, half-amused, "Did you just 'silence' us?"

"Italians only talk with their hands." And with that Vlad turned on his heel and started sucking the life out of the tree Enrico was previously tied to. "You guys wanna offer any of that to a charity or something? Hm? Ever think of that?"

Otis couldn't hold his laughter in, "I think he's a little bit delirious right now, sorry about that."

They waved it away, grabbing blood bags out of Vlad's book bag. Adrian considered his outfit, "Where did you get these clothes?"

"My-- Tomas' closet? They're clearly not mine."

"Ugh, I'm wearing his clothes?" D'Ablo griped. At the very least, Tomas didn't have a terrible taste in fashion. He and Adrian shared a look of disgust.

"They're not his anymore, he's dead. I was just gonna sell all his stuff, but his wardrobe came in handy." Vlad was glad he never actually went through it all, he'd grabbed a few items that looked good on him and shrank them in the dryer so that he could wear them, but now the rest of Tomas' clothes were actually being put to use.

The two begrudgingly kept the clothes on, and Vlad continued stumbling around, leeching life from anything within reach.

"Otis, do you know who's in the other box?" Vlad asked.

"Other...?" He turned back to the shack, "There's another one?"

"The one on the shelf behind the door? I didn't see it at first either. I can't fix them tonight, probably shouldn't have the box here though. I figured you'd know. Take it with you?"

"Sure." Otis grabbed the box and started in the direction they'd come. The Ciottis and D'Ablo followed after him, glancing at Vlad.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah, he just needs to do a little deforestation until he feels better, hopefully he'll stumble upon some campers or something. Let's get out of his way." Otis said, shouting over his shoulder, "Vlad text me, I'll come pick you up."

Vlad muttered 'yeah' sleepily and walked further back into the trees.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Henry woke up at precisely 3:50 in the morning and had an immense feeling that something was _wrong_. He felt like he might throw up, but nothing was off with him.

"V?" He called groggily. No response. He practically lived at Vlad's house, but he knew there was distance between them somehow. This was just like when he'd gotten staked.

"Go back to sleep Henry." Joss was in the room with him, fully awake. Henry wondered if Joss ever slept through the night completely.

"Where is Vlad?" Henry was already up out of bed texting him.

"Go back to sleep. He'll be back by morning."

"Where is he? If I have to kick your ass to get it out of you, I will."

"You're not leaving." Henry realized that Joss was placed between him and the door. He stepped towards his cousin carefully, he knew he couldn't beat Joss in a fair fight, but he also knew Joss clearly hadn't slept at all and they'd been sparring and training together for months. If he could manage to outlast him, he could sneak out and find Vlad.

"Joss, he needs me. He needs blood."

"That's not my issue. He told me to keep you here, even to call his uncle if I couldn't manage you by myself. I'm sure you can imagine how much I absolutely loathe that * _man_ * and would literally rather do anything else than call and ask for his help."

"Have you ever considered you guys hate each other because you staked his nephew?"

"I will not call him. Which means you will not leave."

Henry cracked his neck and sighed, "Yeah we'll see about that."

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Vlad returned about an hour and a half later to find the both of them fairly beaten, Otis and the four recently revived vampires sitting in the living room. He sighed and got them each an ice pack and water.

"Alright so, I'm not really sure what you're supposed to offer someone who's been recently resurrected but uh, I have my personal fix for suffering."

"Which is?" D'Ablo had a look on his face, as if he thought Vlad knew very little of suffering.

"Blackberry gin, ya know, god's gift to man? Anywho, you can have some, but fair warning, I am not half as skilled as whatever corporate city booze you're used to." The halfling walked into the kitchen.

"You... made gin?" Adrian was certain his math was right, which meant Vlad wasn't even old enough to drink.

"No. I got gin and picked blackberries and made blackberry gin. It's really good, if anything could make you forget you were dead a little while ago, it'd be this stuff." Vlad turned to his Uncle and friends, bottle in hand, "Y'all down or not?"

D'Ablo huffed a "I'd much prefer a warm body, but yes," before glancing in Joss' direction, and then promptly deciding a Slayer would be too much trouble.

Otis nodded before Enrico punched him in the arm, "He's not even old enough to drink! How'd he 'get' gin?"

"Enrico, no one's gonna strip you of your liquor license for ignoring if my nephew has a drink. He's had a long night, no? Let him be."

"Like it's fine if he signs away his life to the military at 18, he could buy a gun or cigarettes or a house he couldn't afford, but liquor? No, that'd be sacrilege!" Henry raised a brow at the vampire, "I'd love some V, my ribs fucking hurt." He gave Joss a look and Vlad handed him a glass. "How are you, by the way? I was gonna come get you but Joss was in my way. He is very persuasive when he's got your arm in one of those holds."

The halfling laughed quietly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Tired, but what's new? I'm not going to kill anyone I touch so that's good. Glad you didn't break your arm to get to me."

Vlad met Dorian's eyes, "Promise me you won't say anything about what happened. None of you. If everyone knows what I can do, I'm fucked. It's troublesome and it doesn't always work. No one else can know."

They agreed and they all had some very good gin. Enrico grumbled about the legal drinking age but Vlad mostly just found it amusing. Henry, of course, argued with him about it.

"Alright, I've got it. D'Ablo you've drank my blood before, so if people ask how the fuck you aren't dead, my blood healed you. Not to mention you're an absurdly hard-to-kill guy. Dorian, if anyone asks, I gave you my blood when you got staked, it took a while to heal you so you lied low. Enrico, you managed to escape my dad and only found out recently that he died and it was safe to come out of hiding. Adrian," Vlad sighed and laid his head on the coffee table, "You recently recovered from a severe bout of amnesia, which Tomas inflicted on you rather than killing you. Yeah?"

"My ashes were right next to Mellina's, how would I explain that?"

"Say that those ashes were fake, the ones we buried were not the ashes of a vampire, and Tomas knew how to guesstimate the amount of ashes because he used to work for the Stokerton Council." Vlad remembered Em saying that Councils were well-versed in finding out if ashes were truly a vampire's remains or not.

"Why wouldn't he just kill me? What motive would he have?"

Vlad cocked his head as though it were obvious, "He was mad. His mind was only ever fleetingly sharp. You don't need to know why he did it, only that he did. Elysia will find their own conclusions."

They nodded. Vlad was surprisingly well thought out in his explanations despite being exhausted.

"Didn't you say someone else's ashes were in that shack? Do you know who it is?" Adrian asked, looking over the box holding someone's ashes, "Also are you sure there's nothing we can do to repay you?"

"You, Adrian, owe me nothing, I owed you for trying to protect my mother and me," The halfling sighed, considering the rest of them, "You guys owe me so bad. Ugh, I don't really want anything from you... If I think of anything, I'll call in a favor. The only problem now is that I have no clue who's in the last box."

"It can't be someone who died at the same time as him or after him, so it's not Vikas. Honestly, if it's someone hostile, we have the Lucis and we can just kill them. If it's a friend, no harm done." Otis reasoned, "I can't think of anyone else he'd have killed in the area."

"Hm. Tomorrow evening then, or I guess it's later today. I'm going to bed, you all are welcome to stay until I've resurrected them on the off chance you know them. I don't want anyone in town killed, you're welcome to go into Stokerton to kill." Then Vlad left Otis' house, taking Joss and Henry with him back to his place.

"V! You're home! Where have you been? You had us all really really really worried!" Vlad yawned as Jordan came bolting towards him.

"Jor, I know I'm late. I had some things to do. Tell me everyone's asleep?"

The boy shook his head, "Me, Alejandro, Quynh, Vance, and Zenya were waiting for you to come home. We were worried about you. Al and Quynh already passed out, but the rest of us stayed awake."

"Jor your mom's gonna skin me when she finds out, go to sleep." Vlad pushed him towards the front door, "You guys can't just stay up cause I'm not home, you know sometimes things come up."

"Yeah, but you didn't text anyone."

Vlad pulled at his hair, his feet were killing him, he'd been walking for so long, he didn't have the patience right now for this. When they got inside he was bombarded with questions, which he ignored and proceeded to take his boots and coat off.

"I've told you before not to wait up for me guys, go to bed. I'll explain things in the morning."

"You're alright?" Zenya asked, looking him over.

Vlad nodded and moved past them to go up the stairs to his room, Henry following him and Joss taking one of the couches in the living room.

Henry grumbled a 'see you in the morning' and curled up on the floor, passing out almost immediately. Vlad grabbed some clothes and took a shower before going to bed, texting Otis where to meet him with the box when night came back around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adrian said to D'Ablo, "You talk a lot of shit for a guy who Also had to be resurrected" and he's not wrong


	3. Joke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roots grow so very deep.

Eddie grit his teeth, "You're not _listening_ to me. She. Isn't. Coming. Here. I'm here on her behalf, and we have too much to do to waste time arguing."

Leila met the young man's gaze with near boredom, it seemed every night that rain decided to pour sideways into the windows some entitled idiot showed up, was the wind blowing them in or something? "Em knows I'd be a fool to agree with any random vampire who finds their way inside, if you have no proof that you even know her I can't assume that you're her fledgling or came here to speak on her behalf."

Em didn't keep fledglings, she didn't care to waste time on them anymore.

"Proof? You should have started with that, if proof's what you need I'm your guy." He peeled off his phone case and pulled out two polaroid photos, handing them over to the vice-president.

She looked over them carefully, a photo of Em in what appeared to be a shoddy diner, drinking a vanilla shake, and pretending not to notice her photo was being taken by him, sitting across from her in the opposite booth. The other photo was of her in the backseat of an SUV saying something to him angrily, fangs bared, as he took her photo again.

"That one of her in the van was from when Bathory had a purge attempt from the Slayer Society. The day the Pravus fully awakened to his power." He handed her another photo, "He certainly hasn't gotten any weaker since then."

A photo of Vladimir Tod with a sapling in his palms, roots dangling from between his fingers. Leila raised a brow, "What's he doing?"

"He was holding a seed one minute and the next-- boom! Tree."

She considered that for a moment, how dangerous could _that_ sort of power be? "I'll still need to speak with Em."

Eddie smiled, a quick change in tone, "Good answer." He put his photos back in his phone case and made a call.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up, without greeting but the photographer didn't need prompting, "She passed your test. As loyal as Penelope, guess that means you win that bet."

"I'm rarely ever wrong. Let me speak to her."

He handed over the phone and checked his watch, shifting from foot to foot. Leila thought briefly of the impatience of fledglings and wondered why Em would even bother with making one.

"Leila."

"Madam President. Are you safe?"

"Yes."

"When can we expect you to return to Council?"

The ancient vampire sighed, "I won't be returning for the foreseeable future, my fledgling will be acting in my place."

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Madam, why won't you be returning?"

"There are people, even in our Council, who would do anything for even a modicum of power from that boy. I won't be returning until he is handled. Please do your best to work alongside my fledgling until then. I'm leaving the Council in your hands until this _problem_ is sorted."

"What will you do?"

"Right now? Make coffee. After that? Research."

"Of course. As for your fledgling, will he be acting as President until your return?"

Em scoffed, "You know I wouldn't do that to you, Leila. You can hold my position, make him vice president, and wait for this storm to pass."

"As you wish, Madam President."

She handed the phone back to the fledgling who would be acting vice president for who knew how long, and turned to the door leading out of the Council President's office, * _her_ * office now. She would need to move her things.

"I don't believe I got your name?" Eddie smiled, offering his wrist, "Madam President."

"Leila Colson. Let's go introduce you and brief the Council, then we'll get started with damage control. Edinburgh is going to take the news quite horribly, I imagine." She assessed him, somehow it seemed wearing clothes that looked good on him was a new concept, he looked almost mannequin-esque in his perfection. "I don't believe you introduced yourself properly either?"

"Edgar Poe, but I go by Eddie." He said, as poised as a model. "And what are we doing about Tod?"

"The Council is not to be fully trusted. We'll be keeping our mouths shut and waiting for more information from your mother." Leila wasn't totally sure if he referred to her as such, not all fledglings did, but it was traditional, and Em was nothing if not traditional.

"As you wish, Madam President." He bowed his head and she noted that he was good at listening to orders, while most fledglings balked at them. Em had picked a good human for the job.

She gave him an almost appraising look, "We have work to do. Make yourself amicable to the Council, it should be useful to us later."

He grinned, "That was the plan. Don't worry, Mother taught me all about being likeable."

"And Edgar?"

His brows came together for a second before he corrected his expression, "Yes, Madam President?"

"Once I've sorted everything out here, I think you'll be more useful to us across the pond. Keeping an eye on this _joke_ of an Elder Council and Tod."

"Of course."


End file.
